Method and apparatus for dynamic packet transport in cdma2000 networks

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for saving network resources in a CDMA2000 network, the method comprising the steps of receiving a data packet for a wireless data device at a base station controller in the CDMA2000 network; determining a frame transport capability of a forward common channel; checking whether the data packet falls within the frame transport capability; and if the data packet falls within the frame transport capability, encapsulating the data packet as a data burst message; and sending the data burst message over the forward common channel, wherein the sending step over the forward common channel precludes a dedicated data traffic channel being established for the data packet thereby saving network resources on the CDMA2000 network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 11/944,694, filedNov. 26, 2007, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,520, filedOct. 8, 2003, the entire disclosure of both of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for sendingreverse and forward link data from and to a mobile device, and morespecifically for sending reverse and forward link data withoutestablishing a dedicated data Traffic Channel.

BACKGROUND

Wireless data devices are well known in the art. These devices provide auser with the capability of utilizing data services such as e-mails,browsers, or short message services (SMS). These devices further allowthe use of data services wirelessly and while mobile.

In current CDMA 2000 networks, data packets are always sent out on adedicated data Traffic Channel. On power-up of the wireless device, thisTraffic Channel is obtained by attempting to obtain a valid Internetprotocol (IP) address from a network. The device does this by attemptingto establish a dedicated data Traffic Channel and then a point-to-pointprotocol (PPP) session. Once the device is assigned a valid IP address,the device is allowed to send or receive Packet Data through theInternet routed by the public data serving node (PDSN).

If no Packet Data is sent or received by the wireless data device withina certain time period, the device or the network releases the dedicatedTraffic Channel assigned to the device. The PPP session is still kepteven after the Traffic Channel is released. At this point, the devicegoes into a dormant state and stays in this dormant state until a newdata packet is sent or received. When a new data packet is sent orreceived, the device re-establishes the dedicated Traffic Channel inorder to send or receive any new data packet.

Always sending and receiving Packet Data on dedicated data TrafficChannels is not efficient with regards to both network resources andbattery life of the data device. Network resources are wasted by havinga dedicated data Traffic Channel for each wireless device. If thewireless device only occasionally sends or receives Packet Data, adedicated data Traffic Channel may need to be established and kept foreach outgoing or incoming packet.

With regards to the battery life of the wireless data device, theestablishment of a dedicated data Traffic Channel involves callprocessing messages exchanged between the device and the network. Thiscosts the device battery life to establish the dedicated data TrafficChannel. Further, keeping a data Traffic Channel up also requires moretransmission power, which also affects the battery life.

A further problem with current CDMA 2000 networks is that they do notsupport simultaneous voice and data services. A device is not allowed tosend or receive data pockets when the device has already establisheddedicated voice Traffic Channel from its dormant state.

SUMMARY

The present invention seeks to overcome the deficiencies in the priorart by providing a method and apparatus for reverse and forward linkdynamic packet transport without the establishment of a dedicated dataTraffic Channel. Specifically, the present invention allows for thesending of data in the form of a Data Burst Message along either thereverse access channel or within a dedicated Traffic Channel, such as avoice traffic channel.

CDMA 2000 networks provide the frame transport capability of sendingshort packets on the reverse access channel. The capability of thereverse access channel is broadcast on the Paging Channel with theAccess Primary messages. The wireless device can therefore send datapackets on this reverse Access Channel within the maximum transportcapabilities of this reverse Access Channel.

Alternately, a data packet can be encapsulated as a Data Burst Messagewithin a dedicated Traffic Channel, such as the voice traffic channel.The capability of the voice Traffic Channel is known to the wirelessdevice and, as long as the data packet is within the voice TrafficChannel maximum transport capability, it can be sent as a Data BurstMessage.

Further, a forward link message can be forwarded as a Data BurstMessage. When the PDSN receives a data packet, it checks the packetsize. If the packet is small enough to transport on the forward commoncannel (e.g. Page Channel), the PDSN sends the packet data in a DataBurst Message adding a header for the Data Burst as “Packet Data”.

The present disclosure therefore provides a method for saving networkresources in a CDMA2000 network, the method comprising the steps of:receiving a data packet for a wireless data device at a base stationcontroller in the CDMA2000 network; determining a frame transportcapability of a forward common channel; checking whether the data packetfalls within said frame transport capability; and if said data packetfalls within said frame transport capability, encapsulating said datapacket as a data burst message; and sending said data burst message oversaid forward common channel, wherein said sending step over said forwardcommon channel precludes a dedicated data traffic channel beingestablished for said data packet thereby saving network resources onsaid CDMA2000 network.

The present disclosure further provides a packet data serving nodeadapted to save network resources in a CDMA2000 network, comprising: acommunications subsystem adapted to receive a data packet; a processoradapted to: determine a frame transport capability of a forward commonchannel, check whether the data packet falls within said frame transportcapability; and if said data packet falls within said frame transportcapability, encapsulate said data packet as a data burst message; andsend, utilizing said communications subsystem, said data burst messageover said forward common channel, wherein the sending the data burstmessage over said forward common channel precludes a dedicated datatraffic channel being established for said data packet thereby savingnetwork resources on said CDMA2000 network.

The present disclosure still further provides a method for savingbattery life on a wireless data device comprising the steps of:receiving a data burst message on a forward common channel, checking ifa burst type of the data burst message is packet data; if the burst typeis packet data, reforming a data packet from the data burst message; andpassing the data packet to an application layer on the wireless device,wherein receiving the data packet over the forward common channelprecludes establishment of a dedicated data traffic channel, therebysaving battery life on the wireless device.

The present disclosure yet further provides a wireless data deviceadapted to save battery life, comprising: a communications subsystemadapted to receive a data burst message on a forward common channel, aprocessor adapted to: check if a burst type of the data burst message ispacket data; if the burst type is packet data, reform a data packet fromthe data burst message; and pass the data packet to an application layeron the wireless device, wherein receiving the data packet over theforward common channel precludes establishment of a dedicated datatraffic channel, thereby saving battery life on the wireless device

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is best understood with reference to the drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a wireless device within a CDMA 2000network;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the steps involved in passing a message alongthe reverse link;

FIG. 3 is a decision tree for determining which channel will be used topass the message; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the steps involved in passing a message alongthe forward link.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference is now made to FIG. 1. As illustrated, a wireless data device10 is able to send or receive Packet Data on a Traffic Channel 12 or anAccess Channel 14 depending on the packet size. The message is sentusing airlink 16 to a base station controller 18. Depending on themessage it can then be sent to the packet data serving node 20 fromwhich it can access the Internet 22 or a variety of devices 24, as isknown to those skilled in the art.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2. In the wireless device 10, anapplication layer is notified of the serving CMDA 2000 systems accesschannel and voice Traffic Channel maximum transport capabilities. BeforePacket Data is sent the application layer in step 30 checks the networktransport capability and in step 32 looks at the packet type in order todecide the packet transport mode. The application layer further checksto see whether the message is an e-mail packet or not in step 34. If itis an e-mail packet the destination e-mail address is included in thePacket Data.

The application layer, in step 36, next creates a Data Burst Message(DMB) if Data Burst Messages are to be used for transmission. The bursttype in the DBM is indicated as Packet Data and includes informationabout whether the packet is an e-mail message

The Data Burst Message can then be sent to the base station controller18 using data Traffic Channel 40, dedicated Traffic Channel 42 orreverse Access Channel 44 as is explained in more detail below.

Once the base station controller 18 receives a Data Burst Message on thereverse link, the base station controller checks the burst type in step50 and if the burst type is Packet Data, the base station controllerforwards the Data Burst Message to the packet data serving node (PDSN)20. The PDSN 20 decapsulates the Data Burst Message and reforms thepacket to transport over the Internet 22 in step 52. The PDSN furtherkeeps the originating device's e-mail address and the internationalmobile station identity (IMSI) mapping table. If the Data Burst Messageis an e-mail packet, both the originating and destination e-mailaddresses are included in the packet.

As one skilled in the art will realize, the upper layer of a deviceshould implement a retransmission scheme to recover any data packet lossin the airlink. When using Data Burst Messages, the Radio Link Protocol(RLP) is not used, and thus packet loss is possible.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3. Before sending Packet Data theapplication layer on the wireless data device 10 decides the packettransfer mode based upon the network capacity and the packet type.

Upon transmission to the radio link, the device Packet Data state isalso checked. In step 60, the application layer checks to see whether adata Traffic Channel is already established. If a data Traffic Channelis already established then a message is always sent in step 62 over thededicated data Traffic Channel.

If, however, no data Traffic Channel was found to be established in step60 the application layer moves to step 64. In step 64, the applicationlayer checks whether a dedicated Traffic Channel is established. Such adedicated Traffic Channel can, include a voice traffic channel, but itis not indented to limit the present invention to a voice trafficchannel, and any dedicated Traffic Channel could be used.

If a dedicated Traffic Channel is established, the application layernext moves to step 66 in which it checks whether data can be sent on thededicated channel. If data can be sent on the dedicated channel theapplication layer moves to step 68 in which the message size is checkedto determine whether it is less than the data capability of thededicated Traffic Channel. If in step 68 it is determined that themessage size is less than the data capability then the message is sentover the dedicated Traffic Channel in step 70.

Conversely, if no dedicated Traffic Channel has been established, ifdata cannot be sent over the dedicated channel, or if the message sizeis greater than the data capability of the dedicated Traffic Channel, asdetermined in steps 64, 66 and 68 respectively, the application layernext moves to step 72

In step 72, the application layer determines whether data can be sent onthe reverse access channel. If data can be sent on the reverse accesschannel, the application layer moves to step 74 in which it checkswhether the message size is less than the data capability of the reverseaccess channel. If the message size is less than the data capability ofthe reverse access channel, then the message is sent over the reverseaccess channel in step 76.

If data cannot be sent over the reverse access channel or if the messagesize is greater than the data capability of the reverse access channel,as determined in step 72 and 74, then the wireless data deviceestablishes a dedicated data Traffic Channel in step 78 and messages arethen sent over the dedicated data Traffic Channel.

One skilled in the art will realize that other methods can be used fordetermining which channel to send the data packets on. This couldinclude using the reverse Access Channel as a preferred channel over thededicated Traffic Channel. It could further include only checking eitherthe reverse access channel or the dedicated traffic channel, andestablishing a data Traffic Channel if that one channel is unavailableto be used. Other possibilities will be apparent to one skilled in theart.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4. When PDSN 20 receives a data packet, anapplication layer is notified of the serving CMDA 2000 system's forwardcommon channel maximum transport capability. Before Packet Data is sentthe application layer in step 30 checks the network transport capabilityand in step 32 looks at the packet type in order to decide the packettransport mode.

The application layer, in step 36, next creates a Data Burst Message(DMB) if Data Burst Messages are to be used for transmission. The bursttype in the DBM is indicated as Packet Data.

The Data Burst Message can then be sent through base station controller18 and to the wireless device 10 using data Traffic Channel 40 or theforward common channel 46 similarly to the method described above forthe reverse access channel.

Once the wireless device 10 receives a Data Burst Message on the forwardlink, the wireless device checks the burst type in step 50 and if theburst type is Packet Data, the wireless device removes the Data Burstheader in step 52 and passes the packet to its application layer.

As with the reverse link, one skilled in the art will realize that theupper layer of the PDSN device should implement a retransmission schemeto recover any data packet loss in the airlink because RLP is not used.

The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art byproviding a way to send data traffic without having to establish adedicated data Traffic Channel. This saves both network resources by nothaving a dedicated data Traffic Channel and by not requiring themessages needed for the establishment of the dedicated data TrafficChannel. The present invention further saves the battery life of thewireless data device by not requiring the additional messages forestablishing a dedicated data Traffic Channel.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are meant to beillustrative of preferred embodiments and are not intended to limit thescope of the present invention. Also, various modifications, which wouldbe readily apparent to one skilled in the art, are intended to be withinthe scope of the present invention. The only limitations to the scope ofthe present invention are set forth in the following claims dependedhereto.

1. A method on a processing element comprising: receiving a data burst message at a communications subsystem of the processing device; checking if a burst type of the data burst message is packet data; and if the burst type is packet data: reforming a data packet from the data burst message; and passing the data packet to an receiving entity.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing element is a wireless data device.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving is done over a forward common channel.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the reforming step comprises removing a data burst header from the data burst message.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiving entity is an application layer on the wireless data device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing element is a network element.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the network element includes a base station controller.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the network element is a packet data serving node.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving is done over a reverse access channel.
 10. The method of claim 6, further comprising keeping a mapping table to associate the data burst message with an International Mobile Station Identity of a wireless data device.
 11. The method of claim 6, further comprising keeping a mapping table to associate the data burst message with an email address of a wireless data device.
 12. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving entity is the Internet.
 13. A wireless data device, comprising: a communications subsystem configured to receive a data burst message on a forward common channel and a processor configured to: check if a burst type of the data burst message is packet data; and if the burst type is packet data, reform a data packet from the data burst message; and pass the data packet to an application layer on the wireless device.
 14. The wireless data device of claim 13, wherein the reforming comprises removing a data burst header from the data burst message.
 15. A network element, comprising: a communications subsystem configured to receive a data burst message on a reverse access channel and a processor configured to: check if a burst type of the data burst message is packet data; and if the burst type is packet data, reform a data packet from the data burst message for transport over the Internet.
 16. The network element of claim 15, wherein the network element includes a base station controller.
 17. The network element of claim 15, wherein the network element is a packet data serving node.
 18. The network element of claim 15, further comprising memory configured to keep a mapping table to associate the data burst message with an International Mobile Station Identity of a wireless data device.
 19. The network element of claim 15, further comprising memory configured to keep a mapping table to associate the data burst message with an email address of a wireless data device.
 20. The network element of claim 15, wherein the reforming includes decapsulating the data burst message. 